Popcorn

I walked into the main office and thought, What time does
the movie start? Somebody had made popcorn
in the small kitchen area near the office and the smell permeated the entire
area.

I usually put up with the occasional smells that floated
from that area – warmed up pizza, leftover mushu pork, various frozen lunch
entrees.I didn’t like it, but I
never wanted to make a big deal about it.After all, the office staff often ate lunch at their desks so they could
continue working, and I didn’t want to give them a hard time.

But today I had to rethink the situation.Food smells definitely detracted from
the professional ambiance I wanted.And really, people shouldn’t be eating at their desks.Not only is it not good for business,
it’s not really good for them either.They need to take a break.They weren’t happy with the new rule, but they complied.

The problem is that in some schools there’s no place for the
staff (including the administration) to eat.If you’re lucky you have a staff lunchroom that’s separate
from the faculty room.My
secretary, for example, never wanted to eat in the faculty room because either
a) people tried to pump her for information or b) she had to listen to
criticism of a recent administrative decision.She solved the problem by going home everyday for lunch.

I usually chose to eat in the kitchen of the
school cafeteria.I’d go through
the line so as not to engender criticism but then duck back into the kitchen
area where I ate at a small cutting board table.There were two major benefits to eating lunch here.First of all, I could taste and monitor
what the kids were being offered and confer with the kitchen staff.Secondly, faculty knew my routine and
could find me there if they needed to talk to me.The danger for some administrators who choose this venue is
it is easy to be lulled into not paying for food.This is a huge mistake and one that will be duly noted
outside the kitchen.